National group seeks investigation of 29 judges who signed Gov. Scott Walker recall

Mar. 22, 2012

Written by

Gannett Wisconsin Media Investigative Team

A national conservative advocacy group is asking the Wisconsin Judicial Commission to investigate circuit court judges who signed petitions to recall Gov. Scott Walker.

The Landmark Legal Foundation filed a complaint Tuesday based on a Gannett Wisconsin Media Investigative Team analysis that confirmed at least 29 judges signed the recall, about 12 percent of Wisconsin's county-level judiciary.

The judges who signed the petition defend their action as constitutionally protected and not explicitly banned by the Wisconsin Code of Judicial Conduct, which prohibits judges from supporting political parties or candidates, but does not specifically mention recall petitions.

But the Landmark complaint notes the judicial code requires that judges "avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all the judge's activities." The code says, "The test for appearance of impropriety is whether the conduct would create in reasonable minds a perception that the judge's ability to carry out judicial responsibilities with integrity, impartiality and competence is impaired."

"This inherently political activity implies that these judges are endorsing, if not promoting, Governor Walker's recall and calls into question the impartiality and judicial ethics of each signing circuit judge under the Code of Judicial Conduct," says the complaint, which is signed by Landmark President Mark Levin, a nationally syndicated radio talk show host.

The complaint includes a copy of the Gannett Wisconsin Media investigation, which was published Sunday. Levin said on his show Tuesday that he was "stunned" to learn 29 judges signed the petition.

"I'm not claiming in advance that they're guilty of this, that or the other, though it would seem — on the surface at least — that they have a lot of explaining to do," Levin said. "You can't have a state like this where there are judges, in my humble opinion, who expose themselves as partisans, and they get to make decisions respecting judicial review of statutes, the state constitutions and of individual cases of individual citizens who come before them."

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The complaint puts the judicial commission in an odd position. Monroe County Judge J. David Rice told Gannett Wisconsin Media he signed the petition after being advised it was not a violation of the code by the commission's executive director, Jim Alexander. Alexander declined to say what advice he gave judges.

On Wednesday, Alexander would not confirm receiving a complaint from Landmark or say whether he had received other requests for investigation into the judges who signed the recall.

"I can't comment on requests for investigations that we receive because our proceedings are confidential," Alexander said.

Alexander previously said the commission received a "barrage" of requests to investigate Dane County Judge David Flanagan, who issued a temporary injunction against the Walker-backed voter ID law March 6 without disclosing he had signed the recall petition against Walker, who was a defendant in the case.

The commission will decide whether to pursue an investigation of Flanagan at its April 27 meeting, and he said complaints about any other judges would be considered as well.

"If things would come in, one would anticipate that they would be on that agenda," he said.

Landmark, which has offices in Leesburg, Va., and Kansas City, Mo., is a donation-funded group that describes itself as an authority on and defender of the U.S. Constitution. It has previously sued the Internal Revenue Service, the Environmental Protection Agency and other government agencies "that are out of line," Levin said on his show.